DHS Proposing to Roll Back Protections and Processes for Vulnerable Children and Families

Practical Policies for Vulnerable Immigrant Families

As an immigration attorney, advocate, and mother, I find the recent and proposed changes to our processes of detention and separation of families and children at the border truly heart wrenching. Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions explained new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) policies regarding children and families attempting to cross the southern border of the US. He indicated that all adults crossing the border without authorization would be referred for criminal prosecution and that parents would be detained separately from their children. As reported by the Washington Post, DHS may also change rules regarding the detention and removal of unaccompanied immigrant children.

The proposed changes put Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) (those under 18 and without a parent or legal guardian with them at the time of their entry) at significant risk of harm. Most children crossing the border alone are running for their lives – leaving their families in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador to escape violence, poverty, and government corruption. Because of the likelihood of past trauma and their vulnerability as children seeking refuge in the US, the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA) dictates that instead of just turning them away at the border, our government must place UACs from Central America in formal removal (deportation) proceedings, affording them more humane treatment and protection. Yet despite the protections created by the TVPRA, the lack of support and resources results in significant hardship for UACs. Minors often disappear and/or fall victim to exploitation and abuse. Some children are released to the custody of adults who are incapable of proper care, or worse, violent criminals and abusers. In Marion, Ohio, a human trafficker posed as a caregiver and exploited 8 children. Check out the Frontline doc and NPR story about this case.

The current administration’s practices and policies will put children at the border at further risk of harm and effectively punish those who have fled their homes to seek refuge in the United States. The proposed changes include longer detentions of children and families, separation of families, and deprivation and/or delay of food. It’s hard to see “family values” here. The elimination of existing protections, plans to prosecute parents, combined with familial separation and detention, will be devastating. These changes will force mothers like me to confront a tragic choice: be separated from their children or return to a country where their lives and the lives of their children are at risk.

This post was written by Alicia Kinsman, our Director and Managing Attorney for the Immigration Legal Services program. This program serves nearly 4,000 clients and their families each year. She also serves as staff attorney for Project Rescue, IICONN’s anti-human trafficking program, and provides legal representation in immigration matters to victims of human trafficking and other crimes.